Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Joint Commission for Healthcare

What is JCAHO?here‘ s a short introduction of JCAHO that I found at the Joint commission website.

JCAHO stands for the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations a private nongovernmental agency formed to set up guidelines for the operation of hospitals and other health care facilities, conduct surveys, and awards accreditation for the attainment of high standards of quality in institutional medical care in the United States. The Joint Commission is dedicated to improving quality of health care. The mission of Joint Commission is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations.

The Joint Commission has been nation‘s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care since 1951. It evaluates and accredits more than 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. The Joint Commission has maintained high standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care provided by health care organizations. The Joint Commission‘s comprehensive process evaluates an organization‘s compliance with these standards and other accreditation or certification requirements. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization‘s commitment to meeting certain performance standards. An organization must undergo an onsite survey by a Joint Commission survey team at least every three years to earn and maintain The Joint Commission‘s Gold Seal of Approval.

Accreditation and certification services

The Joint Commission provides accreditation services for the following types of organizations:

General, psychiatric, children‘s and rehabilitation hospitals

Critical access hospitals

Medical equipment services, hospice services and other home care organizations

The Joint Commission also awards Disease Specific Care Certification to health plans, disease management service companies, hospitals and other care delivery settings that provide disease management and chronic care services. The Joint Commission also has a Health Care Staffing Services Certification Program and is developing a certification program for transplant centers and health care services

Benefits of Joint Commission accreditation and certification

Strengthens community confidence in the quality and safety of care, treatment and services.